CNN chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward donned a hijab while reporting from Kabul on Monday morning, one day after the Taliban took control of the capital of Afghanistan.
The Wrap reports Ward used her “New Day” report to show just how dramatically things have changed in the city in the last 24 hours.
“This is a sight I honestly thought I would never see,” Ward said. “Scores of Taliban fighters, and just behind us, the U.S. Embassy compound.”
When asked by “New Day” anchors Jon Berman and Brianna Keilar to go into more depth about just how different things are now, Ward pointed out that she primarily saw Taliban members on the streets. Those who were just ordinary citizens were mostly men.
“I have seen a few women, but I will say, I have seen far fewer women than I would ordinarily see walking down the streets of Kabul,” Ward said. “And the women that you do see walking down the streets of Kabul tend to be dressed more conservatively than they were when they were walking down the streets of Kabul yesterday. I’ve seen more burkas today than I had seen in awhile. Obviously, I am dressed in a very different way to how I would normally dress to walk down the streets of Kabul.”
Ward even noted during her reporting that her presence started to cause tension among Taliban members she spoke to. At one point, she was specifically asked to stand aside because she is a woman.
“It’s anyone’s guess as to what the situation on the ground will look like in two hours, let alone two days, two months,” Ward said.
Global, the media & entertainment group, today announced the appointment of radio programming specialist Sharon Dastur, who will now work as Global’s Senior Programming & Content Advisor, reporting to James Rea, Global’s Director of Broadcasting.
Dastur will serve as an extra U.S. liaison to artist managers and record labels, working closely with Global’s Talent & Artist relations team in London.
Sharon’s career spans over 20 years of music and entertainment industry expertise, including SVP of Programming for the World Famous Z100 New York, iHeartRadio, and most recently, SVP of Promotion at Republic Records. She is a forward-thinking and strategic industry pioneer with a passion for music and storytelling through music. Sharon has transformed brands, created popular culture and has helped guide the careers of some of the biggest artists in the world.
Sharon has won accolades across the entertainment industry including the prestigious annual Billboard Women in Music list, TJ Martell Women of Influence, ELLE Magazine’s Women in Music Power List, Women in Music: The 50 Most Powerful Executives in the Industry, and many more. Sharon was also co-creator and Executive Producer of the annual Z100 Jingle Ball concert featuring the biggest artists of the year on one stage at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Ashley Tabor-King, Global’s Founder & Executive President, said “I’ve known Sharon and been a fan of her work for many years whilst she ran Z100 in New York. She’s a world class programmer and brand and event creator. I’m enormously excited to be working with her, as are James Rea and the programming team at Global. Welcome Sharon!”
Sharon Dastur added: “For years, I’ve always admired Global’s innovation, creativity, and elevation of the Global brands through smart programming, top-notch talent, and first-class events. I am absolutely thrilled to be working alongside this brilliant group of Ashley, James, and the entire Global programming team.”
iHeartMedia St. Louis announced today the debut of KMJM 104.9 The Patriot Real Talk for St. Louis.
104. 9 The Patriot will be a brand-new FM news/talk radio station for St. Louis featuring local news and weather as well as around-the-clock breaking news and live shows hosted by the most listened-to local and national talk show radio hosts in St. Louis and the country. The station will feature an array of recognizable hosts, including five-time Murrow Award–winning St. Louis radio and TV personality Jamie Allman, as well as other leading on-air personalities across the country, including Glenn Beck, Clay Travis & Buck Sexton, Jesse Kelly, and bestselling author and speaker Dave Ramsey.
“St. Louis is excited to welcome a talk radio station featuring the latest news, opinions, and discussions from a conservative point of view that isn’t afraid to engage with the other side. 104.9 The Patriot will deliver all of that and more every weekday,” said John R. Beck, Jr., Market President for iHeartMedia St. Louis.”
Full Weekday Programming Lineup:
Jamie Allman 5 – 9 am
Glenn Beck 9 – 11 am
Clay Travis & Buck Sexton 11 – 2 pm
Sean Hannity 2 – 5 pm
Jesse Kelly 5 – 9 pm
Dave Ramsey 9 – Midnight
Red Eye Overnights
Listeners can continue to hear former station Majic 104.9 on 104.9 HD-2 as well as on iHeartRadio.com and the iHeart Radio app.
CUMULUS MEDIA announces that it has appointed Dave Grande as On-Air Host, Afternoon Drive, and Promotions Director for Colorado Springs Classic Rock station 98.1 KKFM-FM.
Dave Grande
Grande was most recently On-Air, Promotions and Live Event Coordinator for Full Power Radio in Hartford, CT. He can be heard on 98.1 KKFM-FM weekdays from 3:00pm-7:00pm.Bobby Irwin, Operations Manager, Cumulus Colorado Springs, and Program Director, 98.1 KKFM-FM, said: "We believe we have found the perfect fit to complement our incredible team on KKFM. Dave comes with a Rock radio and promotional background, plus a ton of ideas and a passion for living in Colorado.”
Dave Grande commented: “It is a really exciting time to join KKFM. We have an amazing team with Bobby Irwin captaining the ship. Can't wait to take this already great product and help make it even better."
CUMULUS MEDIA announces that it has appointed radio personality and social media star Mason as On-Air Host, Morning Drive, for Dallas-Fort Worth Top 40 station KLIF HOT 93.3 FM.
Mason takes the morning mic on Monday, August 23rd, and airs weekdays from 5:30am- 10:00am. She joins Cumulus Dallas-Fort Worth from Hubbard Broadcasting in Seattle, WA, where she was an on-air personality for Top 40 station Movin 92.5/KQMV-FM since 2007. Mason is also a popular social media personality and influencer, with over 287,000 followers on TikTok.
She holds a B.A. degree in Communications from Washington State University.
Sid Kelly, Program Director, HOT 93.3, said: “After searching the country, we kept coming back to Mason and her unique skill set. Mason has experienced success at the highest levels in producing engaging content, and she understands how to effectively build her radio listenership through social media. We’re thrilled to welcome Mason to Mornings on HOT 93.3 and know our listeners will love what they hear.“
Mason remarked: “Rarely am I at a loss for words, but I can’t explain how excited I am to be joining the team at HOT in the great city of Dallas. As it turns out, being a very famous, talented and beautiful TikTok model isn’t the lucrative future I had imagined! Seriously, I am looking forward to waking up DFW every weekday morning.”
Tom Griswold, host of the nationally syndicated Bob & Tom Show, is recovering from heart valve replacement surgery at a local hospital. It was originally planned as a repair procedure but it was determined that the replacement would provide a better long term outcome.
He is resting comfortably and ordering the hospital staff and his children to fetch things like Starbucks iced tea regularly. It will be several weeks before he returns to his microphone at the studio, but a home studio is being assembled so he can get back on the air quicker.
After having quickly swept through Afghanistan, taking over most of the country in just over a week while facing little resistance from Afghan armed forces and police, the Taliban took over the capital of Kabul yesterday as the government collapsed and President Ashraf Ghani left the country as the fighters closed in. Several Taliban members entered the abandoned presidential palace, and a spokesman told the Associated Press that the militants would hold talks in the coming days with the goal of forming a, quote, "open, inclusive Islamic government."
The U.S. Embassy was evacuated and American personnel brought to Kabul's international airport, and other Western countries also quickly closed their missions and are flying their people out of the country. The U.S. sent more forces to help and protect the evacuation, with there expected to be some 6,000 troops. At the same time, thousands of Afghan civilians, afraid of a return of the harsh form of Islamic law from when the Taliban ruled the country from 1996 to 2001, were also at the airport trying to get a flight out. More than 60 countries, including the U.S., released a joint statement last night saying that those now in power in Afghanistan, quote, "bear responsibility -- and accountability -- for the protection of human life and property, and for the immediate restoration of security and civil order."
The stunningly-quick Taliban takeover came two weeks before the U.S. planned date of August 31st for all American troops to be out of the country, and after a U.S. military assessment just days earlier had said Kabul wouldn't come under Taliban pressure for a month. The little resistance by Afghan forces came after the U.S. and NATO spent two decades and billions of dollars to build them up and train them. Secretary of State Antony Blinken admitted the administration was surprised by the speed of collapse, saying on CNN yesterday, "The fact of the matter is we've seen that that force has been unable to defend the country. And that has happened more quickly than we anticipated."
Just a few weeks ago, on July 8th, President Biden downplayed the possibility of a Taliban takeover, saying, "The jury is still out, but the likelihood there’s going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely."
➤HAITI EARTHQUAKE DEATH TOLL NEARS 1,300: The death toll from the 7.2-magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti on Saturday rose to 1,297 on Sunday, with more than 5,700 injured and thousands more displaced from their homes. Thousands of buildings collapsed in the quake, which also triggered landslides after taking place some 78 miles west of the capital of Port-au-Prince. Meanwhile, Tropical Depression Grace is looming and is forecast to reach Haiti tonight. Even though it was downgraded from a tropical storm yesterday, it still is a threat for heavy rain, flooding and landslides. The U.S. is sending assistance, including a 65-person search and rescue team from Virginia, as well as at least two U.S. Coast Guard helicopters, as well as other aircraft and ships, according to a spokesman.
The death toll from a devastating earthquake in Haiti rose to 1,297 as neighboring countries rushed to send aid and rescuers scrambled to find survivors buried beneath the rubble before a tropical storm hits https://t.co/BiRQiuw40opic.twitter.com/ecvkQ18CO0
💉COVID VACCINE BOOSTERS FOR ELDERLY COULD BE DECIDED IN NEXT COUPLE OF WEEKS: Covid-19 vaccine booster shots for Americans, which would likely go to health care workers, nursing home residents and the elderly first, could be decided in the next couple of weeks, Dr. Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health, said Sunday. Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Collins again urged unvaccinated people to get their shots, calling them "sitting ducks" for the delta variant sweeping across the country. He said, "This is going very steeply upward with no signs of having peaked out." A booster hasn't yet been approved for the U.S. because Americans so far remain highly protected, including against the delta variant, if they're vaccinated. Booster shots were approved last week by the Food and Drug Administration for people who are immunocompromised.
🔫THREE KILLED, TWO WOUNDED IN SAN ANTONIO SPORTS BAR: Three people were killed and two others injured in a shooting at a San Antonio, Texas, sports bar early Sunday morning that began with an argument between two people. Police Chief William McManus said the suspect is still at large. McManus said it's believed the owner of the Boom Boom Sports Bar was trying to close at around 3:30 a.m. when the dispute began. The altercation spilled over into the parking lot, where the suspect grabbed a long gun from his car and started shooting, hitting five people. The two survivors are in critical condition.
🍹MOMS WITH YOUNG KIDS MORE THAN TRIPLED THEIR DRINKING DURING THE PANDEMIC: A new study suggests that moms with young kids increased their alcohol consumption by nearly 325 percent between the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and the end of last year. Drinking guidelines recommend that men allow for up to four drinks per day but on more than 14 drinks per week while for women it’s no more than three drinks a day or seven drinks per week. However, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism found that Americans exceeding those guidelines increased by 27 percent from February and April of 2020 and 39 percent between February and November. However, more women disproportionately reported exceeding the recommended drinking guidelines than men between April and November 2020, with those parenting kids under the age of 5 increasing their alcohol consumption by 323 percent.
➤FOOD STAMP BENEFITS TO BE INCREASED BY 25 PERCENT: The administration has approved a permanent increase in food stamps assistance that's the largest single increase in the program's history, the New York Times first reported yesterday. Average benefits will rise to more than 25 percent above pre-pandemic levels starting in October. An announcement is expected today by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The average monthly per-person benefit will increase from $121 to $157, according to AP.
📱T-MOBILE INVESTIGATING REPORTED LARGE DATA BREACH: T-Mobile is investigating a reported large data breach that may have exposed the information of more than 100 million people, Vice reported yesterday, saying the culprits are apparently trying to sell about one-third of the data. T-Mobile told Vice it's, quote, "aware of claims made in an underground forum," and is "actively investigating their validity." The data was reportedly taken from T-Mobile servers and includes customer information including names, addresses, phone numbers, Social Security numbers, driver's license information, and IMEI numbers, which are unique to each mobile device, according to Mashable.
🧼POLL ASKS HOW OFTEN SHOULD PEOPLE SHOWER: Showering, of all things, has been in the headlines recently as several celebrities -- including Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis, Jake Gyllenhaal, Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard -- revealed that they don't shower themselves or bathe their children as often as you might think. So what do Americans believe? A new OnePoll survey found that 51 percent say it's a must to shower regularly, while 31 percent said it's not necessary to shower every day. Thirty-five percent of those who think cleanliness is vital say they shower every day, while 15 percent do so every other day. Only eight percent take showers once a week, while four percent shower more than twice a day. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was a counter-celebrity on this question, tweeting that he showers up to three times a day. When it comes to kids, Bell and Shepard said they don't bathe their children until they start to "stink," and Kutcher and Kunis wait until, quote, "you can see dirt on them." Perhaps surprisingly, 63 percent of parents agree with that approach, while 25 percent disagree.
🎢ROLLERCOASTERS ARE AMERICAN'S FAVORITE AMUSEMENT RIDE When you go to an amusement park, what kind of ride do you like the most, maybe making a beeline for first? If you're like the respondents in a new CBS News poll, it's roller coasters. They were in first place by a lot, at 35 percent, way ahead of bumper cars in a distant second at 13 percent. Tied in third place at 10 percent were the Ferris wheel and log ride/water flume. The tilt-a-whirl/scrambler/rotor/spinning rides came in at seven percent, and the carousel was at six percent. There was a division by gender, however, with 42 percent of men saying the roller coaster is their favorite compared to 28 percent of women. More men also named bumper cars, but just by two percent, while more women named the Ferris wheel and log ride/water flume rides as their favorite than men, but only by about five percent. When asked if they're concerned about the safety of amusement park rides when they decide whether or not to go them, half were at least somewhat concerned, with 21 percent saying they're very concerned and 29 percent saying they're somewhat concerned. Twenty-five percent said they're not too concerned and 23 percent are not at all concerned.
➤TROPICAL DEPRESSION GRACE THREATENS HAITI: Tropical Depression Grace was expected to dump enough heavy rain over Haiti on Monday and early Tuesday to cause the potential for mudslides and flooding, just days after the country was struck by a 7.2-magnitude earthquake, the National Hurricane Center said.
🏀CLIPPERS TRADING THREE PLAYERS FOR BLEDSOE: The L.A. Clippers are trading Patrick Beverley, Rajon Rondo and Daniel Oturu to the Memphis Grizzlies for guard Eric Bledsoe, ESPN reported yesterday. Bledsoe was originally drafted by the Clippers in 2010 and spent the first three years of his career with them. The New Orleans Pelicans traded him to the Grizzlies before the July draft, and Memphis had been working to move him to a new team, according to the report.
🏌KISNER WINS WYNDHAM IN RECORD-TYING SIX-MAN PLAYOFF: American Kevin Kisner won the Wyndham Championship in a record-tying six-man playoff at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina, yesterday. It was his first PGA Tour win since 2019 and fourth overall. After all six players made pars on the first additional hole, Kisner beat Adam Scott, Roger Sloan, Kevin Na, Si Woo Kim and Branden Grace on the second. It was the third six-man playoff on the PGA Tour and the first since 2001.
🎾FEDERER TO HAVE SURGERY, WILL MISS U.S. OPEN: Roger Federer announced on Instagram Sunday that he needs to have a third operation on his right knee and will miss the U.S. Open and be out for months. The 40-year-old said the surgery will leave him with, quote, "a glimmer of hope" that he can return to competition." Federer last played in Wimbledon last month, where he lost in the quarterfinals, and skipped the Tokyo Olympics due to his knee. He has won 20 Grand Slam singles titles, sharing the men's record with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
🏈KINLEY, GIVEN NAVY EXEMPTION FOR NFL, RELEASED BY BUCCANEERS: Rookie cornerback Cameron Kinley, who played college football at Navy and was last month allowed to delay his military comission to pursue an NFL career, was released by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. Kinley may still get an opportunity to play in the NFL in the 2021-22 season, however, since there are still three weeks left before the start of the regular season.
🥊MUHAMMAD ALI'S GRANDSON GETS EARLY WIN IN PRO BOXING DEBUT: The late Muhammad Ali's grandson, 21-year-old Nico Ali Walsh, got a early win in his professional boxing debut on Saturday, with a first-round TKO of Jordan Weeks in their middleweight bout at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Catoosa, Oklahoma. The referee ended the fight with 1:49 remaining in the first round. Weeks was wearing a pair of his famous grandfather's white trunks, saying in an Instagram post later that he did so, quote, "for the first and final time as a professional fighter." He said, "I'm blessed and honored to say that I continued history."
Jeff Rickard is learning the lay of the land after the longtime national radio personality (ESPN, Sporting News Radio) was hired in early August as WEEI’s program director.
“I’m just figuring out where bathrooms are and where the stairs in the back of the building go to and that sort of stuff,” he said Friday afternoon. “I’ll be back next week and we’ll hit the ground full speed.”
Rickard will have plenty of tasks on his agenda, with longtime host Glenn Ordway retiring later in the month and WEEI struggling in the ratings against rival 98.5 The Sports Hub.
In a longer conversation with The Boston Globe, here's what Rickard had to say:'
Q. Do you have a general or specific philosophy about what works in sports radio or does it depend on the particular market?
A. “I think what you have to realize is that you can’t do the exact same thing in every city. Every city has got its own personality and its own kind of vibe and its own rhythm. In Boston, sports are a huge part of the way of life here. That connection makes this one of, if not the best sports cities in America. You have to understand that, and you have to talk to them about things they want to talk about. When you’re doing your job well in sports radio, you have your finger on the pulse of the fan, and hopefully you’re talking to them in a very entertaining and compelling way. It sounds simple, and it’s obviously much more complicated to make it work, but that is the goal, to do a really good job of giving them what they want.”
Q. It’s been proven that two sports stations can simultaneously have enormous success in this market. But WEEI’s ratings have fallen over the past couple of years while 98.5 The Sports Hub has continued winning ratings periods. How does WEEI get back to the level where it’s competing to win key demographics again?
A. “You identify the things that you do really well, you identify your weaknesses, you try to fix those weaknesses, and you just put a really compelling show on the air, whether that show is morning, middays, or afternoons. I think there’s a lot of talent here and we’ll try to get them to do the things that they do really well even better. Over time, all stations change and evolve. Some of them find their rock-solid lineup and they go with that. I’m excited to see what I can find out about the crew that’s here right now and see where we can go with them. But yeah, I can’t worry about what anybody else does. I can only worry about what this radio station is going to do.”
Gen Media Partners announced the launch today of its new Radio Network Sales and Affiliate Sales division, G Networks.
Rising in tandem with the Gen Media Partners successful umbrella of other radio divisions, G Networks will stand alone as a full-service audio network company that is already engaged with over 250 million listeners each month through over 4,000 affiliated radio stations.
G Networks has an existing and extensive portfolio of high-quality audio services, produced features, research services, entertainment, sports, news, and programming.
“Evolution isn’t possible without change. It is with this ethos that we have upped the commitment and engagement for our G Networks radio division and are focusing on what is now vitally important to advertisers and stations in the current media environment. With an eye to the future, we intend to both invest and transform the future of audio.” said Warren Friedland, President of G Networks and Managing Partner of Gen Media Partners.
G Networks now offers an extensive portfolio of highly targeted networks, each of which has its own USP, unique selling proposition, and solid national footprints with an emphasis on top-market coverage and extensive reach. Rich Baum, G Networks’ Chief Revenue Officer and network radio veteran states, “Our team at G Networks are not just ad sellers, they are truly solutions providers. With a concentration now on developing partnerships and providing integrated marketing engagements that are scalable and measurable, we will aggressively pursue national full-service marketing initiatives that will meet advertisers’ need to reach, engage, captivate and impact their consumers every day.”
Rich O’Brien is G Networks’ Chief Development Officer and brings his vast track record of success and relationship building to the Affiliate Solutions team. O’Brien affirms, “The G Networks affiliate team provides comprehensive and custom solutions focused on audience growth and development for stations, producers, and hosts. I am excited to develop new avenues of revenue growth as we build and execute multi-tiered results for our partners that will reach an unparalleled level of success.”
The 2020 Census has revealed that America's white population is shrinking and is now less than 60 percent for the first time on record, with nearly 20million fewer white Americans alive today than ten years ago.
White Americans make up 57.8 percent of the country, according to the data that was released on Thursday, a decrease of over 6 percent since 2010.
That is the number of people who replied 'white alone, non Hispanic or Latino' to the survey. Another group who just answered 'white alone' make up 61 percent of the country, according to a data map.
The white population is still the largest in the country at 204.3 million, but that number is down from 223.6 million in 2010.
The second largest group is Hispanics which makes up 62million, or 18 percent. The third are African Americans, which represent 12.1 percent of the country. That is down from 13 percent in the 2010 census.
Generally, the population is becoming more diverse with people responding that they are of 'some other race' than white, black, Hispanic, native American, Asian, or Pacific Islander, than before.
The only states where the majority of the population is non-white are California (Hispanic majority of 39.4%), DC (black majority of 40.9%), Hawaii (Asian majority of 36.5%), New Mexico (Hispanic majority of 47.7%) and Puerto Rico, which has a population that is 98% Hispanic.
Vermont is the whitest state, with 95.5% of residents reporting to be white.
'Twenty years ago if you told people this was going to be the case, they wouldn’t have believed you.
'The country is changing dramatically,' William Frey, a researcher at the Brookings Institution told The Washington Post of the data.
The data also offered new details on the country's slowing rate of population growth, which is lower than it has been at any time aside from the 1930s.
More than half of all U.S. counties lost population from 2010 to 2020, census officials said.
New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and Phoenix are the five largest U.S. cities; Phoenix, which grew faster than any other city in the top 10, surpassed Philadelphia.
The fastest-growing cities across the U.S. are in suburban areas, data showed. Buckeye, a suburb of Phoenix, saw its population increase by nearly 80% to lead the nation.
The Villages, a retirement community in Florida, is the fastest-growing metro area in the country, the census said.
The release arrived months later than originally expected after the census took longer to complete due to the coronavirus pandemic. The delay has forced some states to go to court to postpone their redistricting deadlines.
Todd Hillier, better known by his on-air name Fez Marie Whatley on "The Ron and Fez Show," died Friday night of heart failure.
He was 57, reports The Wrap. His former hosting partner, Ron Bennington, announced the news on Instagram.
“We lost our sweet Fez Whatley last night. His heart finally gave out,” Bennington wrote. “We are devastated, but we will always remember the laughter through our tears. Our thoughts are with his family who loved him the most and with the people who knew him as a voice on the radio. #fezwhatley.”
Bennington has kept fans up to date on Whatley’s health problems, posting photos of him laying in a hospital bed in March after just suffering “another massive heart attack.”
“Fez had another massive heart attack this week,” Bennington wrote. “He flatlined on Tuesday, but was able to be revived by doctors. He spent a few days on a ventilator and is now breathing on his own. His sister snapped these pics of him while he was on the vent, and Fez is oddly proud of them.
In 1990, Whatley was an on-air personality at WYNF in Tampa Bay and producer and contributor for the syndicated morning program, The Ron and Ron Show. During this time, he developed the Fez Whatley moniker which a reporter in The Orlando Sentinel described as "an effeminate, lisping character". After the show disbanded due to being cancelled for low ratings after the departure of Ron Diaz, Whatley then teamed up with Ron Bennington as a co-host to create The Ron and Fez Show on WKRO FM, a small Daytona Beach rock station. After a relatively short stint there, they then retitled the show: Ron and Fez Dot Com and premiered on overnights on New York City radio station WNEW FM on April 17, 2000.
Fez Whatley
Whatley and Bennington continued on WNEW until the end of 2002, as well as being simulcast to a few other FM markets, including WJFK-FM in Washington, DC. After being canceled in New York City, as well as the other markets, they continued to broadcast from WJFK FM, and relocated to DC.
On July 19, 2004 Whatley and Bennington unceremoniously returned to the Florida airwaves in the 1 PM to 3 PM slot on Tampa Bay, Florida's The Buzz WBAA 1010 AM, a relatively low wattage station which adopted a new talk format, and abandoned its former sports talk format. The duo didn't produce well in the ratings however, and their tenure was short lived.
The Ron and Fez Show moved to XM Satellite Radio on September 12, 2005 after leaving WJFK 106.7 FM in Washington D.C.
On December 20, 2006 The Ron and Fez Show premiered on 92.3 Free FM in New York City from 6 to 9 PM, while still holding on to their XM Satellite Radio show from Noon to 3 PM. The Ron and Fez Show was discontinued when WFNY reverted to a rock format as WXRK on May 24, 2007.
On April 1, 2015, Whatley announced his retirement from radio. His final appearance on The Ron and Fez Show took place two days later.
Benztown released sad news Sunday that Jeff Kelly, West Coast Commercial Production Director for Benztown, died late Friday night, August 13th, in Los Angeles, CA, at the age of 50.
Jeff joined Benztown in January and had just recently moved to L.A. to work with the Benztown team in the company's Glendale, CA, studios.
Kelly became, in his own words, a “True Radio Geek” at a very early age, listening to Scott Shannon, Jeff Gonzer and Mark & Brian in his native Southern California. After his high school graduation, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and proudly served his country.
Jeff started his radio career in 1994 at K-MIX/KHJ, in his hometown of Lancaster, CA. Following that, he moved across town to then-number-one Country FM 103.1 KTPI in 1995. In 1996, Jeff headed to Cheyenne, WY, where he joined the team that launched 97.9 KING FM/100.7 KOLT FM. It was there where Jeff would earn his first Program Director stripes. Success followed in Northern Colorado and later in Albuquerque, NM, where he joined iHeartMedia in early 2016. It was there where he made the decision to shift the direction of his career from programming to production.
During his four years as Production Director at iHeartMedia Albuquerque, Jeff won nine New Mexico Broadcasting Awards (NMBA), sweeping every category for which he was eligible on more than one occasion. Equally rewarding was the role he began to play in iHeartMedia's production process. Jeff joined forces with Production teams in five other major/large markets across the Southwest to form the Western Division Production Center. This collective pioneered a process of sharing resources - voices, sounds, styles, and time - which would evolve into iHeartMedia's "Production Center," now the companywide standard for handling production.
In January 2021, Jeff took his dream job as West Coast Commercial Production Director for Benztown and YamanAir, which brought him home to Southern California just weeks ago, when he moved to L.A. with his fiancee, Melissa.
Dave "Chachi" Denes, Benztown President, paid tribute: "We are deeply saddened we were not able to spend more time with Jeff and we will miss him very much. Jeff was incredibly energized and excited about working for Benztown and his recent move to L.A. from Albuquerque, and his positive attitude and tremendous talents were inspiring. His production, writing and VO skills were among the very best in the business and I am incredibly grateful for his contributions to our company, the Commercial Production Department and YamanAir. The entire Benztown team sends our deepest condolences to Jeff's fiancee, Melissa, his children, Jordan, Christina and Darian, and his parents, Joe and Linda."
Radio personality and station manager Peter C. Cavanaugh, awho brought rock and roll to Flint’s airwaves in the 1960s, has died, reports mlive.com citing a family Facebook post.
Cavanaugh influenced Flint radio for decades, working at WTAC 600 AM beginning in 1964 and also as station manager for WWCK 105.5 in the 80s. He started his career as a 16-year-old at WNDR in his hometown of Syracuse, New York.
The Flint Journal once called Cavanaugh “the godfather of local rock ‘n’ rollers,” an energetic, sometimes provocative broadcaster who greeted listeners by telling them to “get up and boogie!”
He was “a loyal man and creative soul,” wrote his daughter Colleen Pyron in the Facebook post.
“He inspired others to dream big, believe in themselves, and ‘take no prisoners,’” she wrote. “He would want you to remember that ‘It is all in how you look at it; it’s all in how you study it.’ Here is to peace after a full and interesting life.”
Cavanaugh was featured at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum as part of an exhibit on influential rock and roll DJs. His platform helped The Who reach a national audience, and he expanded the reach of Michigan acts like Bob Seger, Ted Nugent and Alice Cooper, according to his book “Local DJ.”
Cavanaugh had a “big heart and soul” and engaged heavily with all his listeners and fans, said Jim Baade, a friend and former radio colleague. Baade made the documentary “Flint’s Best Rock: The Movie” about his time at WWCK under Cavanaugh.
“Peter Cavanaugh was bigger than life,” Baade said. “Radio was his calling and he was a maestro. He was professional, but loved to have fun. He had empathy and he cared.”
“He just was in love with radio, and it showed through and through.’
Kris Phillips, owner of WFOY Radio in St. Augustine, has died, reports St.Augustine.com citing a station Facebook post.
"With profound sadness, we announce the passing of Kris Phillips. She loved her family and friends and she loved owning and running WFOY," the station wrote.
The station did not announce the cause of her death.
WFOY is St. Augustine’s oldest radio station. It is now at 102.1 FM and 1240 AM. Named after the Fountain of Youth, the station began broadcasting in the mid-1930s.
Phillips was born in Chicago on September 17, 1959. She graduated from Butler University in 1981 and earned a Broadcasting Certificate from the Broadcast Center in St. Louis in 1982. Kris began her career as an on-air television reporter for the number one station in Little Rock, KATV, the ABC affiliate. As senior reporter she specialized in covering politics and high-profile court cases. She also became a meteorologist, earning her AMS designation while a weekend weathercaster. Kris produced several documentaries for Arkansas Public Television, and moderated Arkansas Week, a statewide public affairs program on legislature and statewide political issues.
She resettled in St. Augustine, Florida in 2008, and ran her own business, Phillips Broadcasting, which operated Newstalk WFOY 1250 AM / 102.1 FM and WAOC 1420 AM / 96.5 FM.
Before becoming a radio station owner and operator, Phillips worked as a television reporter. Her background also included work as a communications director in the U.S. Senate.
Her death is the second to hit WFOY within a week. Talk host Greg Larson, who impacted sports media on the First Coast for nearly 50 years, died on Saturday August 7, 2021 at his home at the age of 73.
➦In 1922... WEAF NYC (now WFAN) signed-on. The station went on the air from an antenna atop the eleven-story Western Electric Building at 463 West Street.
WEAF Broadcast August 1922
The origins of WEAF go way back to 1919 when original owners, AT&T, inaugurated an experimental radio-phone station, 2XB, at 463 West St. in Manhattan. Then, on May 18, 1922, the Commerce Department granted a license to AT&T's Western Electric subsidiary to upgrade 2XB.
Original calls, taken from an alphabetical list, were WDAM, however they were deemed too profane. On May 29, 1922, the next available calls were assigned: WEAF.
WEAF stood for "Water, Earth, Air, Fire", the four elements of matter.
On August 16, 1922, WEAF hit the air on 360 meters (or 833 AM on our present AM band.)
WEAF was the first station to offer commercials, with the Queensboro Corp, a real estate company, being its first sponsor on August 28, 1922.
During hours when they had time to fill, AT&T recruited their office personnel who could sing or play music.
In July 1926, RCA took over WEAF as the flagship for the Broadcasting Company Of America, a name soon changed to the National Broadcasting Company. The purchase price was $1 million.
On November 11, 1928, WEAF moved to 660 AM.
The move that solidified WEAF's position as the most pretigious of all broadcasters took place in the autumn of 1933, when NBC moved to 30 Rockefeller Plaza and became the "radio" that gave Radio City its name.
WEAF Transmitter 1932
In October 1943, sister station, WJZ, dropped out of the NBC Blue Network and establshed the American Broadcasting Company and eventually became WABC.
In August 1946, "Buffalo" Bob Smith began hosting WEAF's morning show, then left in 1951 to concentrate on "Howdy Doody."
Later in 1946, NBC came to an agreement with a small station in New Britain CT to relinquish that city's initials from its call letters and on November 2, 1946 at 5:30p, WEAF presented its last broadcast, entitled "Hail And Farewell," and at 6p turned into WNBC
Then on October 18, 1954, WNBC switched calls to WRCA, as a tie-in to their parent company, RCA.
On June 1, 1960, WRCA became WNBC once again.
Today, 660 AM is home to America's first all-sports station WFAN.
➦In 1937....The American Federation of Radio Artists (AFRA) was organized.
Emboldened by the National Labor Relations Act passed by Congress in 1935, radio artists from Los Angeles banded together to form the Radio Actors Guild. About the same time, Broadway actor George Heller began lobbying Actors’ Equity Association in New York for a contract protecting radio artists. This led to the creation of Radio Equity, existing under the umbrella of Actors’ Equity.
The American Federation of Radio Artists was formed, succeeding Radio Equity and the Radio Actors Guild. The Four As – the Associated Actors and Artistes of America – granted a charter to the new union, with 400 members in two locations. Chicago, the center for “soap opera” production, quickly followed New York and Los Angeles, with performers forming their own local chapter. By December 1937, AFRA had more than 2,000 members.
On July 12, 1938, with the support of radio stars Eddie Cantor, Edgar Bergen, Jack Benny, Bing Crosby, and others, AFRA members negotiated the first collectively bargained agreement on a national scale—with NBC and CBS—resulting in a wage increase of 125%. In 1939, after only two years in existence, AFRA covered 70% of live radio broadcasting through collective bargaining agreements.
In 1941, AFRA members negotiated the Transcription Code, providing for programs recorded for later broadcast, and building cost-of-living increases into contracts.
On September 17, 1952, the Television Authority and AFRA merged to create a new union, the present-day American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA).
➦In 1939...“Lights Out,” radio’s “ultimate horror show,” was heard for the last time on NBC Radio.
It returned to the air on CBS in 1942-43. The show’s most familiar trademark, guaranteed to put you under the covers on a dark night was “Lights out everybody!” followed by 12 eerie chimes of a clock.
The success of Lights Out revival was part of a trend in 1940s American radio toward more horror. Genre series like Inner Sanctum, Suspense and others drew increasingly large ratings.
➦In 1977…Elvis Aaron Presley died at age 42. (Born January 8, 1935). Regarded as one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century, he is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King".
Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, and relocated to Memphis, Tennessee, with his family when he was 13 years old. His music career began there in 1954, recording at Sun Records with producer Sam Phillips, who wanted to bring the sound of African-American music to a wider audience.
Presley, on rhythm acoustic guitar, and accompanied by lead guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black, was a pioneer of rockabilly, an up-tempo, backbeat-driven fusion of country music and rhythm and blues. In 1955, drummer D. J. Fontana joined to complete the lineup of Presley's classic quartet and RCA Victor acquired his contract in a deal arranged by Colonel Tom Parker, who would manage him for more than two decades. Presley's first RCA single, "Heartbreak Hotel", was released in January 1956 and became a number-one hit in the United States. With a series of successful network television appearances and chart-topping records, he became the leading figure of the newly popular sound of rock and roll. His energized interpretations of songs and sexually provocative performance style, combined with a singularly potent mix of influences across color lines during a transformative era in race relations, made him enormously popular—and controversial.
In November 1956, Presley made his film debut in Love Me Tender. Drafted into military service in 1958, Presley relaunched his recording career two years later with some of his most commercially successful work. He held few concerts however, and guided by Parker, proceeded to devote much of the 1960s to making Hollywood films and soundtrack albums, most of them critically derided. In 1968, following a seven-year break from live performances, he returned to the stage in the acclaimed television comeback special Elvis, which led to an extended Las Vegas concert residency and a string of highly profitable tours. In 1973, Presley gave the first concert by a solo artist to be broadcast around the world, Aloha from Hawaii. Years of prescription drug abuse severely compromised his health, and he died suddenly in 1977 at his Graceland estate at the age of 42.
Presley is the best-selling solo artist in the history of recorded music. He was commercially successful in many genres, including pop, country, blues, and gospel. He won three competitive Grammys,received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at age 36, and has been inducted into multiple music halls of fame.
According to allthatsinteresting.com, around 2:30 on the afternoon of August 16, Elvis' girlfriend Ginger Alden was wandering around Graceland looking for Elvis. The King of Rock and Roll was supposed to be preparing to leave for his latest tour, but Alden was growing concerned, as she hadn’t seen him in a while.
Alden saw no sign of Presley until she realized his bathroom door was cracked open. She looked inside the room and, as she later recalled in her memoir, “I stood paralyzed as I took in the scene.”
According to Alden, “Elvis looked as if his entire body had completely frozen in a seated position while using the commode and then had fallen forward, in that fixed position, directly in front of it.” Alden rushed forward and detected a hint of breathing, although the singer’s “face was blotchy, with purple discoloration” and his eyes were “staring straight ahead and blood-red.”
➦In 1995...Radio personality Joseph Priestley "J-P" McCarthy died at age 62.
McCarthy was best known for his over 30 years of work as the morning man on WJR in Detroit.
He got his first radio job at Flint radio station WTAC. While at WTAC he frequently auditioned for WJR, a leading radio station in Detroit, with a 50,000-watt clear-channel signal that could be heard in much of the Eastern United States and Canada. After frequent auditions, McCarthy was hired by WJR as a staff announcer in 1956.
The position of staff announcer was merely straight forward announcing, and McCarthy aspired to do more in radio. When Marty McNealy, the host of WJR's Morning Music Hall, left for WKMH in 1958, McCarthy was chosen to replace him. The station promoted him heavily, and he was soon the #1 rated radio show in Detroit.
WJR did not pay particularly well, and J.P. was offered the opportunity to do commercials for Stroh's, the top brewery in Detroit. Station management would not allow it, and after some discussion McCarthy left Detroit for KGO in San Francisco, where he took the morning show from #6 to #3.
In 1964, Goodwill Stations sold WJR to Capital Cities Broadcasting and the president, Dan Burke, asked station manager Jim Quello why they lost McCarthy. After explaining the situation, Quello re-recruited McCarthy to return to WJR, with a raise and the right to do commercials for anybody he wanted. J.P. returned to WJR in December 1964.
Upon his return to Detroit, McCarthy not only hosted the Morning Music Hall from 6:15 to 9, but also the Afternoon Music Hall from 3:15 to 6. Eventually, McCarthy's duties were relegated to morning drive, and a noontime interview program, "Focus". It wasn't long before McCarthy's morning show was #1 in Detroit, a perch that he held for about 30 years until his death, a feat unmatched in Detroit radio.
J. P. McCarthy was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1992, the first Detroit broadcaster to be inducted.
While at the peak of his career he contracted Myelodysplastic Syndrome, a very rare blood disease. J.P. McCarthy died of pneumonia in his sleep on the afternoon of August 16, 1995.
➦In 2003...Radio General Manager and personality, Dick Pike, died at age 78 (Born - November 7, 1924). Pike is best known for his work at WNOP 740 AM, a 1,000-watt, jazz-formatted Radio station licensed to Newport, Kentucky, that became legendary.
Emily Robinson is 49
🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAYS:
Actor Gary Clarke (“Hondo,” ″The Virginian”) is 88.
Actor Julie Newmar is 88.
Actor-singer Ketty Lester (“Little House on the Prairie”) is 87.
Actor Anita Gillette is 85.
Actor Bob Balaban (“A Mighty Wind,” ″Best In Show”) is 76.
Ballerina Suzanne Farrell is 76.
Actor Lesley Ann Warren is 75.
Bassist Joey Spampinato (NRBQ) is 73.
Actor Marshall Manesh (“How I Met Your Mother,” ″Will and Grace”) is 71.
Actor Reginald VelJohnson (“Family Matters”) is 69.
TV personality Kathie Lee Gifford is 68.
R&B singer J.T. Taylor is 68.
Director James Cameron (“Titanic,” ″The Terminator”) is 67.
Actor Jeff Perry (“Scandal,” ″Grey’s Anatomy”) is 66.
Guitarist Tim Farriss of INXS is 64.
Actor Laura Innes (“ER”) is 64. Actor
Angela Bassett is 63. Singer Madonna is 63.
Madonna is 63
Actor Timothy Hutton is 61.
Actor Steve Carell is 59.
Actor Andy Milder (“Weeds”) is 53.
Actor Seth Peterson (“Burn Notice,” “Providence”) is 51.
Country singer Emily Robison of The Dixie Chicks is 49.
Actor George Stults (“Seventh Heaven”) is 46.
Singer Vanessa Carlton is 41.
Actor Cam Gigandet (“Twilight”) is 39.
Singer-guitarist Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes is 36.
Actor Cristin Milioti (“How I Met Your Mother”) is 36.
Actor Shawn Pyfrom (“Desperate Housewives”) is 35.
